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- Category Archives Arcade
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Millipede (Atari, 1983)
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For those not familiar with these games, the concept is fairly simple. There are pests i your garden that you are trying to kill. First and foremost among these are centipedes that weave their way from the top of the screen to the bottom, switching direction whenever it collides with a mushroom. The centipede (or millipede) is composed of many segments. Whichever segment you happen to shoot (with your pesticide…arrow?) turns into a mushroom and causes the centipede/millipede to break into two parts. To make it to the next level, you just have to shoot all the parts of the centipede. As the levels progress, the centipede gets faster and other creatures come to ruin your days. You control your archer with a trackball and can move back and forth across the screen but up the screen only a short distance. A single fire button is the only other control.
While Millipede was not hugely different, it is arguable the better and more challenging game. It added addition creatures as well as other strategic items such as the DDT bomb that you could shoot to take out all nearby enemies. Game play was also faster and more challenging. However, for the casual player who was used to Centipede, perhaps that didn’t offer a huge appeal.
Millipede, not being quite as popular as Centipede, received fewer ports to home systems but there were still several. It was released for the Atari 2600 and Atari 8-bit computers in 1984, the Atari ST in 1986 and the NES in 1988. There was also an Atari 5200 port but it went unreleased. There were some later re-releases as well including a Game Boy version in 1995, A PlayStation version as part of Arcade’s Greatest Hits: The Atari Collection 2 in 1997, a Game Boy Advance version in 2005 and the Atari 2600 and arcade versions were both released in 2005 as part of the Atari Anthology for Xbox and PlayStation 2. Both Millipede and Centipede were also available for the Xbox 360 through Xbox Live Arcade starting in 2007.
Screen shots above are from the arcade version of the game.
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Fast Draw Showdown (Arcade)
Source: EGM 2 – Issue Number 5 – November 1994 – Page 150 (Fact File)
American Laser Games was briefly famous for their laser disc based light gun arcade games that featured live action video. Their first and probably most famous game was Mad Dog McCree produced in 1990. The game featured in this review is Fast Draw Showdown which was released in 1994 and was the last arcade game released by American Laser Games.
I was never a big fan of this type of game. It relied heavily on timing and less on strategy or other skills. However, this kind of game definitely had an appeal to certain gamers. If you liked Dragon’s Lair and Space Ace then there is a good chance you would like these games too.
Fast Draw Showdown was shorter and less story based than American Laser Games previous efforts. You play the role of a lawman who has showdowns with various gunfighters. You must draw your gun as quickly as possible and shoot your enemy before they shoot you. However, you can’t draw too soon or it is considered a foul. Three and you are out. Your final opponent, should you make it that far, is Wes Flowers, who happens to be a real life Fast Draw champion.
This arcade game was actually re-released by Global VR in 2002. In addition, it was also released for the PC by Digital Leisure, who bought the rights to American Laser Games’ releases, in 2004. It also made it to the Wii via WiiWare in 2010 and for the PS3 via the PlayStation Network in 2011. American Laser Games was a big supporter of the 3DO and many of their games made it to that platform. However, while Fast Draw Showdown was announced for that system, it was never released.
The images above are from the arcade version of the game.
